Bids were due Feb. 1 and included an opening "stalking horse" bid of roughly $23 million, but anyone was welcome to bid on the operation as a whole, including the individual leases to thousands of acres of farmland, said Grand Rapids attorney Laura Genovich. She said any objections to
Tuesday's auction are due Wednesday, and a hearing on the sale, to
approve or disapprove it, will be held Thursday.

Genovich was asked by Michigan Farm Bureau
to speak at an informational meeting for area farmers and
business people who had questions about how the bankruptcy process would
work.

After the Farm Bureau presentation, Genovich was hired by some farmers/lessors and has filed motions in the case.

A stalking horse bid is intended to set the bar for continued bidding; Stamp Farms LLC filed for Chapter 11 relief on Nov. 30, and court records list the farm's assets at $10 million to $50 million and its liabilities at $50 million to $100 million.

If a sale is approved, it likely will have to close by Feb. 15, Genovich said. If no bulk sale is approved, then a process to break up the farm and sell the assets piecemeal, with not all assets going to a single bidder, will begin.

She said Tuesday afternoon that she did not have any details on the how the auction was going.

"The next couple of days will be critical," Genovich said.

"If the sale goes through, then the farmers who are owed back rent should be paid (brought current) fairly quickly."

A spokesman for O'Keefe and Associates, the Grand Rapids company brought
on to restructure the farms, declined to comment Tuesday and said the firm
will not comment on the proceedings even after the case has been
settled.

Correction: 9:35 a.m. Feb. 6, this sentence was added. After the Farm Bureau presentation, Genovich was hired by some farmers/lessors and has filed motions in the case.